Labour management relations: look to past for future stability

A storm is brewing between the Nova Scotia government and business in this province. At issue is the request by the Department of Labour and Advanced Education to the Labour Management Review Committee (LMRC) to seek a model for the introduction of first contract arbitration.

First contract arbitration and the potential shift to an unbalanced approach to negotiations is the issue for the business community, but there is a far more important issue that lies just beneath the surface.

The LMRC was appointed by government and does not include any representation from non-union business, a sector that employs approximately 85 per cent of the Nova Scotia workforce. This imbalance, as well as its direct link to the Labour Department, creates mistrust and concern for many.

There is a solution to correct the current situation: Government only has to look back to the Joint Labour Management Study Committee (JLMSC) which operated under the aegis of the Dalhousie Institute of Public Affairs.

That committee operated at arm’s length from government from 1962 until its untimely demise in 1979. It had many successes, including the first protocol in North America to deal with workplace automation.

Other improvements in labour management relations came from this committee, and all decisions were reached by consensus.

The committee consisted of co-chairs appointed by labour and management, together with an equal number of participants from both sides representing all economic sectors. Issues were discussed objectively under the careful eyes of Guy Henson and his colleagues at the Institute.

The committee died during debate of the so-called Michelin Bill in 1979. To this day, I wonder if labour had been aware that management had successfully killed a more restrictive bill earlier in the year, would they have stayed with the structure that had worked so well.

That first draft landed on my desk on April 7, 1979, in a plain brown envelope. It would have required all multiple site businesses to be unionized at the same time.

That was at the beginning of Easter weekend and as soon as government offices reopened, the executive of the local branch of the Canadian Manufacturers Association went to the premier’s office without an appointment, insisting on an urgent meeting.

That meeting took place and the premier was informed that if this draft was introduced in the legislature, management would strongly oppose it.

That draft died then and there.

Several months later, Ken Streatch, then minister of labour, asked for a meeting with the executive of the JLMSC. He stated that government had made a commitment to Michelin and asked the committee to study the issue and return with a solution.

A sub-committee was established with Chester Sanford and Bill Mulhall as co-chairs, along with Leo McKay and myself, to see if there was any possibility of a resolution. The labour members, to their credit, refused to discuss the issue and government was advised that a compromise was impossible.

The Michelin Bill was introduced and passed in the legislature. Gerald Yetman, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour at the time, and never a supporter of the JLMSC, forced labour to withdraw and the committee died.

Based on more than 30 years of involvement in labour management issues, I believe that the provincial government has the opportunity to ensure long-term labour management stability in Nova Scotia.

To do this, it needs to disband its current committee and approach an arm’s-length institution to restructure a committee similar to the original JLMSC.

Further, all recommendations for change in the labour management environment must come from this committee and not from direction by government.

This will ensure long-term stability and, if properly marketed, will lead to strong economic growth for the province.

Peter O’Brien is a former executive member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and a former member of the Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board.